Chinese activist's nephew jailed for assault

The United States says it is deeply concerned by the jail sentence given to the nephew of a prominent Chinese dissident.

Activist Chen Guangcheng's nephew has been sentenced to three years and three months in jail for assaulting officials who had been looking for his uncle after he escaped house arrest in April.

His nephew, Chen Kegui, allegedly used a kitchen knife to defend himself when authorities barged into his home in the middle of the night uninvited.

"We are deeply disturbed about reports that Chen Kegui, the nephew of human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng, was tried and convicted today in a legal proceeding in China that lacked basic due process guarantees," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

"He was convicted in a summary trial in which he was not fully represented by legal counsel of his choosing. He didn't have an opportunity to present his own defense. So this was a deeply flawed legal process."

Nuland says Chen Kegui's parents had been refused visits with their sons, and that his court-appointed lawyer did not provide the family with any information about the case.

Attorneys who tried to represent Chen Kegui were threatened with losing their licenses if they were to proceed, she said.

"All of these things represent very serious concerns with respect to the rule of law and China's compliance with its commitments under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Nuland said.

"So we regret China's failure to honor its international commitments, and we call on them to review this case."

After being released from a four-year jail term in September 2010, Chen Guangcheng was placed under house arrest but fled from under the noses of plain-clothes police in April, taking refuge at the US embassy in Beijing.

Chinese and American diplomats scrambled to find a solution to defuse the row.

After initially agreeing to stay in China, Chen decided he wanted to leave for the US, and Beijing eventually allowed him to leave.